The American Tort Reform Association recently issued a report highlighting one of the more concerning aspects of the climate litigation campaign waged by plaintiffs’ lawyers and public officials against energy manufacturers. Privately funded lawyers are being paid to serve in attorney general offices around the country despite the many ethical issues raised by such arrangements. This questionable practice has largely escaped public scrutiny, though some states have acted to ban the practice outright, and for good reason.

These privately funded Special Assistant Attorneys General have been deputized with the state police powers to serve the private agendas of their funders, rather than being answerable to the public.

The report, “Attorneys General for Hire: A Disturbing Usurpation of Traditional State Police Powers By Private Political Activists,” highlights and expands upon many of the points raised in MAP’s Beyond the Courtroom report that shed light on the nearly 20 year effort to turn climate change into a tort litigation issue.